For Redskins, failure in do-or-die game

WASHINGTON — The Redskins talked all week about coming out and proving that this season still had hope. They kept referring to last season’s magical seven-game run as evidence that it could happen, especially with how weak the NFC East has been this season.

Philadelphia hadn’t won on its homefield since last September and the Redskins caught another break by facing Nick Foles instead of Michael Vick.

All of that seemed promising, right?

Well, then how do you explain coming out flat and being down 24-0 before starting to play football?

How does that happen in a game that was do-or-die for your season?

Other than Alfred Morris, who had 18 carries for 86 yards in the first half, the Redskins showed little to no life early on. Robert Griffin III had four net yards passing at halftime. It wasn’t until a 62-yard touchdown pass to Darrell Young in the fourth quarter that the Redskins started to show signs of life. It was too little, too late as Griffin threw an interception in the end zone late in the game that sealed the deal.

“We had a certain concept run, and nobody got open, so I was backing up. I tried to throw the ball to the back of the end zone,” Griffin said. “It didn’t get to where I wanted it to go, I was on my heels. It’s hard to swallow something like that, but we’ve got to digest it, move on.”

The post-game locker room was a little feisty to say the least. Trent Williams told reporters that the umpire verbally harassed him, approached him while on the line and called him a “garbage-a** disrespectful mother f***er” during the final possession of the first half.

Pierre Garcon initially declined to speak with reporters, saying he was injured. He later did speak outside the locker room and said the team would not quit on each other.

As far as what went wrong, players tried to find the reasons.

“Feeling is frustration, disappointment, sadness,” DeAngelo Hall said in the locker room. “Hell I was about to cry on the sideline. I just don’t understand where we’re falling apart, you know?”

Darrell Young added, “It’s the story of our season so far, man, just waiting until the last minute to try and do something. But we put ourselves in that bind.”

Mike Shanahan continues to have faith, “I’ve got a lot of belief in our football team,” he said. “Our guys fought extremely hard when they were down. But we made too many mistakes to win. They got the job done and we didn’t.”

That sounds all too familiar this season as the Redskins were left to wonder what could have been yet again.

Washington now sits at 0-3 in the NFC East with three division games left. At 3-7 with the 49ers coming to town for a Monday night match-up, what will be the message this week atRedskins Park?